The view from the Brooklyn Bridge was partly obscured by construction scaffolding but still stunning and a glorious walk on a sunny September morning. Wished I had more time to wander around Brooklyn Heights, didn’t find that much of interest in Dumbo, so I carried on across the bridge (bit tricky to find the pedestrian entrance) and onto Zucker Bagels for bagel-lox-cream cheese (excellent), then went to the old church by the World Trade Center site which has a touching display to mark the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The church was a refuge for first responders and it’s hard not to get choked up looking at the photos and remnants from that time. On to Tribeca where I found the lovely little pocket park on Duane Street – stopped in at the patisserie (of the same name) for lemonade and some cookies to bring to a friend’s kids (with proceeds of cookies going to 9/11 stuff), cute shop with lots of British stuff called Working Class, cool furniture store using reclaimed this and than called Lucca. Dropped of fatigue on a very comfortable bench by Battery Park (I think) with great river view and perfect breeze. Dinner at Motorino Pizza on E. 12 near 1st in East Village (best bets: meatball appetizer, any pizzas with red sauce, tiramisu. )
Brooklyn Bridge – Dumbo – World trade Center site – Tribeca – east Village
Filed under New York City
New section of the High Line – Central Park – Madison Ave
What a spectacular day in New York City with perfect weather – warm but not hot, sunshine but breezy. I could have walked forever (if my feet would permit.) One upside of all the rain NYC has gotten this summer (and I know there are major downsides) is that everything is so green and lush – which is very refreshing coming from the parched and browning Midwest. Central Park looked like Ireland this morning as I walked across it at around 72nd street. Took a stroll up Madison Avenue to early 80s to check out the latest completely unaffordable fall fashions, then had lunch w/a dear friend at Bella Blue (great artichoke salad!). We took the subway to 14th and 8th avenue then a short walk to the High Line. It was not only longer than my last visit (thanks to the recent opening of the second section) but the vegetation was higher and dense – sometimes blocking views of the river but still one of the great things to do in this city – great views you’d never see otherwise and fun people watching. Not so sure about the Pineapple-Jalapeno ice bar I ate – good at the time but Jalapeno is not sitting that well with me.
Filed under New York City
Getting to Grafton Vermont – this just in!
We just got encouraging word from Grafton Vt. about traveling there next week. Granted we may have to go a round-about way (since we were hoping to take Route 7 from Williamstown, Mass) but still…good to know there is a road open into town.
Hello friends,
On behalf of the entire Old Tavern at Grafton Inn family, we wanted to provide you with an update on the inn and on Grafton.
First and foremost, we are OPEN for business. In fact, most every business in Grafton is open. Hurricane Irene did not damage the inn in any way, and we are very grateful for that. Grafton Ponds Outdoor Center is drying out nicely and will be open for business this weekend.
Irene did hit southern Vermont hard and the village of Grafton experienced serious flooding. We have many bridges and roadways that are damaged. However, for those of you scheduled to visit us in September, fear not. Improvements are taking place daily.
Regarding our sister company Grafton Cheese, we did receive some water damage in our Grafton production facility, but it is being worked on and cheese making will continue there ASAP. Our Grafton Cheese retail store in the village is OPEN. Our Brattleboro production facility and retail store are fine and operations continue there as usual.
At present, getting into Grafton is through Chester, Vermont. Directions are below.
We have updated our Facebook page with new photos and videos. Please visit us here.
DIRECTIONS TO GRAFTON
Take Exit 6 (Rockingham) off of I-91 and follow Route 103 into Chester. When you get into Chester village, take a left onto Grafton Road (next to Chester Hardware). This road will take you right into Grafton. At the end of the Road, take a right and the inn is 1/4 mile ahead of you.
If you are coming in from Albany NY for the wedding this weekend, the best way to get here is to take the Mass Pike to I-91 North into Vermont. Routes 9 and 7 in Vermont are currently closed.
We look forward to having you visit us in Grafton soon!
Filed under Vermont
You go Vermont! Picking up the pieces after Irene.
News reports today suggest that Vermonters are working hard – with considerable help from friends/government – to recover from the devastation caused by Irene which is good news on many fronts, primarily of course for Vermonters, especially those living in a dozen or so particularly hard hit small towns, but also for us tourists who love the place enough to travel thousands of miles (in our case from Iowa) to visit. Here’s hoping we can get there next week – although the road damage remains a big issue.
Filed under Vermont
Leo’s/Royal Oak and Lou Malnati’s in Chicago
Made it home without a hitch yesterday after a 5.5 hour drive from Chicago which started with some very stormy weather. Didn’t have much time to explore the city since we were just passing through but did get a take out pizza from Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria – an outpost of which recently opened in my aunt’s Gold Coast neighborhood in the old Anthropologie building. Looked like a fun place to eat – especially the outdoor patio. We opted for takeout and thin crust, not Chicago thick. It was good – especially the unusual crust that I believe is made with cornmeal – but wasn’t that bowled over. Certainly will try again. Another place to remember – the original Heaven on Seven, a Cajun restaurant downtown near the old Marshall Field’s and near my stepdaughter’s new place of employment. Comes well recommended by several.
Before leaving Michigan, we had to cram in a trip to Leo’s Coney Island in Royal Oak for my son who happily and quickly devoured two Coneys. And I do need to add – for one blog reader who protested – that Lafayette Coney Island was much more crowded when we tried to go there Saturday night than when we passed by midday Saturday. Unfortunately it was so busy that we couldn’t find a place to park and had to forego our visit.
Filed under Chicago, Detroit, DINING, Uncategorized
Cranbrook, Royal Oak, Greektown
My dad noted yesterday that he’s been to Detroit more in the two days I’ve visited than he has for days or months prior. Good sport! We tried to go to Slows BBQ, the trendy place rising from the ashes in the Corktown neighborhood across from the haunting hulk that was once Detroit’s train station. The place looked great – but the wait was one and a half hours. No thanks. We drove onto Greektown where we had a nice meal (after a five minute wait) at Pegasus Taverna. (I was surprised to see that the place we used to go – the name escapes me – is now a hole in the ground. Literally.)
In the morning we rode bikes through Huntington Woods, Berkeley and Royal Oak on a pretty Sunday morning – I forgot how easy riding a bike is here, the streets so flat and wide, lined with pretty well-tended homes and long flat green lawns. Later, we stopped at Sanders’ Ice Cream shop where I had the first hot fudge cream puff I’ve had since I was about 8 years old and went to the old Sanders in Royal Oak. The original Sanders ice cream fountains closed eons ago but someone bought the name (and maybe the secret recipe) and is opening fountains all over the burbs (but not in Royal Oak.) The fudge is as good as ever (and has been available even after the fountains closed.) We had a groupon that for $9 got us up to $18 of food stuffs. Later we drove and walked around the spectacular grounds of Cranbrook, where I went to high school – and even bumped into a former favorite math teacher of mine.
Filed under Detroit
Home just in time for the Woodward Dream Cruise!
We made it home to suburban Detroit just in time for the Woodward Avenue Dream Cruise, which did not disappoint – cram-packed with old cars dragging up and down Woodward. The traffic and crowds were thickest around 12 mile road – it was almost as fun to watch the spectators as the cars. Earlier in the day, during our drive from Chicago, we found a good place to eat in the small Michigan town of Coloma (ex: 39 on I-94). My son thought it looked like a nightclub, because of the name “The Hot Spot Cafe”but it was a small town cafe with breakfast all day – great crispy (as requested) hash browns, poached eggs (soft) and sausages. The place seemed to have a way with potatoes – they made their own potato chips. That exit also has a well-known popular fruit stand – Fruit Acres – where we picked up great raspberries, blueberries, red haven peaches and we didn’t get but tried some really strange looking doughnut peaches.
Dining in Chicago at Carmine’s
Don’t know why I’ve never eaten before at Carmine’s in Chicago, which I’ve passed dozens of times since it’s in my aunt’s neighborhood but finally did tonight on a beautiful summer eating. Great food – eggplant/mozzarella/tomato salad, penne Bolognese and a special dish with penne, eggplant, spinach and shrimp. Yum!
Filed under Chicago
Collegebound road trip
We’re off to the University of Iowa tomorrow to move my daughter into the dorm and with any luck we’ll fit all her stuff in the car AND be able to see somewhat out of the rear view mirror…
TakeBetsywithyou 